Am I qualified to work in healthcare marketing?

In this day and age, many skills and qualifications acquired by professionals are transferrable and relevant to other professions. With a huge increase of people going to University, more and more people are now qualified for science, healthcare, and medical related jobs, encompassing a huge area of skills and work types.

However, by the time that they have finished studying, some candidate’s become disillusioned by their chosen profession, and may choose to look at new opportunities. E.g, a scientist might look for more team based, people roles like sales or marketing, where they will tend to deal with people instead of test tubes!

But how can you know for sure that you are eligible for healthcare marketing roles?

IDENTIFY WHAT BACKGROUND SUITS THE ROLE

To work in any sales job, you will be considered before most other candidates if you have a background which combines business with a specialist area of medicine like nursing or any science based degree. But if you only have one of these, do not fear, you could still be eligible for medical sales roles if you have the correct work background.

If you come from a business and sales focused background, then use vital core terminology like good communicator, excellent inter-personal skills, go-getter, etc. You should also mention and give an example of how you have adapted to a new market before. For example, an employer will need to know that you can adapt your sales background to the medical sector, and whether your knowledge can be transferred.

On the flip-side, if you come from a strictly medical background, i.e if you trained as a scientist or a nurse, you will need to prove to an employer that you can adapt to a sales focussed environment, whilst be highly suitable for the position due to your knowledge of key medical processes; be it healthcare, research, or manufacturing.

ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE THE RIGHT PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

Traditionally, sales focussed roles require certain attributes in order to be able to operate successfully. Whilst many of these attributes conform to clichés that we have all heard, some remain true and relevant to today’s market.

There’s no way of getting around the fact that; if you want to work in sales, you must be confident, both in yourself and about the product that you are trying to sell.

Interestingly, there are crossovers when it comes to the sales and non-sales areas of the medical industry. Sales focussed roles in this particular industry demand diligence, self-organisation, and good attention to detail. If you have these, then look to focus in on these when speaking to a potential future employer – as they will identify that you will be able to apply these skills to your new role.

UNDERSTAND COMPETITION

If you are a sales expert coming in from another industry, then you should understand the importance of identifying competitors, and keeping an eye on them to see what they are doing. Coming into the medical industry afresh, it is advisable that you research the competitors of the company that you are applying to work with before you enter the interview phase so that you can demonstrate a good understanding of the market, and also, to help generate ideas of what you would do if you were given the job.

However, if you are currently a scientist, or perhaps a private care home nurse, then perhaps you already have good knowledge of your potential employer’s competition. If this is the case, then make sure you convey this in your application as well as your interview. This will help communicate that you have a solid grounding in sales technique, and may make the jump to a sales- focussed role more likely.

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